TY - JOUR
T1 - Emotional enhancement of memory for neutral information
T2 - The complex interplay between arousal, attention, and anticipation
AU - Dunsmoor, Joseph E.
AU - Kroes, Marijn C.W.
AU - Murty, Vishnu P.
AU - Braren, Stephen H.
AU - Phelps, Elizabeth A.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank David Clewett for helpful advice on these experiments, and Bryan Strange for helpful comments on the manuscript. The study was supported by NIHR01 MH097085 (to E.A.P.). J.E.D. is supported by NIHR00 MH106719. M.C.W.K is supported by an H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowship and a Branco Weiss fellowship – Society in Science. V.P.M. is supported by NIHK01 MH111991.
Funding Information:
We thank David Clewett for helpful advice on these experiments, and Bryan Strange for helpful comments on the manuscript. The study was supported by NIH R01 MH097085 (to E.A.P.). J.E.D. is supported by NIH R00 MH106719 . M.C.W.K is supported by an H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowship and a Branco Weiss fellowship – Society in Science. V.P.M. is supported by NIH K01 MH111991 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2019/7
Y1 - 2019/7
N2 - It can be challenging to explain why certain mundane details circumstantial to an emotional event are nonetheless remembered long after the experience. Here, we examined how attention selectively shapes memory for neutral objects that happen to coincide with either an unexpected or anticipated emotional event. Pictures of neutral objects were presented for 2 s and terminated with either a high-intensity shock, a low-intensity shock, or no shock. Recognition memory was tested 24 -hs later in a surprise test. Results showed no effect of shock intensity on memory for attended objects when shocks were unpredictable (Experiment 1). Similarly, there was no effect of shock intensity for attended objects when shock delivery was signaled before the object appeared (Experiment 2). There was a reduction in memory for unattended objects paired with an anticipated high-intensity shock (Experiment 3). Finally, subjects recognized slightly more attended objects paired with a high-intensity shock if shock intensity was signaled one second after the object was encoded (Experiment 4). We conclude that simply pairing objects with high-intensity shocks is insufficient to drive episodic memory enhancements for neutral information. But anticipation of an impending source of arousal can induce bidirectional effects: attending to an impending emotional event interferes with encoding of neutral information, but encoding an object just prior to anticipation of an emotional event can sometimes benefit memory. Overall, these results highlight a complex interplay between arousal, attention, and anticipation on emotion-induced memory for neutral information.
AB - It can be challenging to explain why certain mundane details circumstantial to an emotional event are nonetheless remembered long after the experience. Here, we examined how attention selectively shapes memory for neutral objects that happen to coincide with either an unexpected or anticipated emotional event. Pictures of neutral objects were presented for 2 s and terminated with either a high-intensity shock, a low-intensity shock, or no shock. Recognition memory was tested 24 -hs later in a surprise test. Results showed no effect of shock intensity on memory for attended objects when shocks were unpredictable (Experiment 1). Similarly, there was no effect of shock intensity for attended objects when shock delivery was signaled before the object appeared (Experiment 2). There was a reduction in memory for unattended objects paired with an anticipated high-intensity shock (Experiment 3). Finally, subjects recognized slightly more attended objects paired with a high-intensity shock if shock intensity was signaled one second after the object was encoded (Experiment 4). We conclude that simply pairing objects with high-intensity shocks is insufficient to drive episodic memory enhancements for neutral information. But anticipation of an impending source of arousal can induce bidirectional effects: attending to an impending emotional event interferes with encoding of neutral information, but encoding an object just prior to anticipation of an emotional event can sometimes benefit memory. Overall, these results highlight a complex interplay between arousal, attention, and anticipation on emotion-induced memory for neutral information.
KW - Emotional memory
KW - Episodic
KW - Fear conditioning
KW - Recognition
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U2 - 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.05.001
DO - 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.05.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 31075362
AN - SCOPUS:85065431340
VL - 145
SP - 134
EP - 141
JO - Biological Psychology
JF - Biological Psychology
SN - 0019-493X
ER -